


ensō

by pudgypanda



Series: satoru [3]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Full Circle, Gift Giving, White Day, aka Sakura stops functioning at the idea of Sasuke giving her a gift, memorializing loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 04:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18564271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pudgypanda/pseuds/pudgypanda
Summary: ensō: a circular symbol of uninhibited expression; a hand-drawn ring that evokes enlightenment and strength__When Sasuke finally finds a quiet moment in Getsugakure on a particular day, he takes something old and turns it over - into something new.





	ensō

“Eh…?”

Sasuke has to keep himself from laughing at the perplexed expression on her face. Sakura’s head snaps up to look at him suspiciously as she takes the simple beechwood box off the tea shop table between them and turns it over in her hands. “What is this?”

“Something for you.”

He can tell she physically fights to keep her jaw from dropping. Her disbelief at the idea that he would get something for her, nice enough to merit a box, is both a painful punch to the gut and also absolutely hilarious.

“But Sasuke-kun, we are literally in the middle of nowh-”

“Getsugakure requests a formal apology.” he jokes dryly.

Her lips quirk upwards tellingly even as she rolls her eyes at him. “You know what I mean. There’s nothing like this,” she rattles the box, “anywhere near here.”

He sets his tea down and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Will you just open it?”

She finally obliges, lifting the latch to reveal a little flat black steel pendant, suspended on a braided red slip cord by a tiny hole in the center.

It’s nothing particularly eyecatching or flashy, but he registers her freezing in surprise. She touches it hesitantly with an outstretched finger, and when she manages to get ahold of her voice again, she blurts out, “But why?”

He stares at her as though the answer is obvious. “It’s White Day.”

The impossibly wide green of her eyes gives away her shock. “But I didn’t get you anything last month-”

“Aa.”

“-and by the time I remembered last week, I thought- well, I didn’t know if…”

He can feel his face heating up a bit and he shifts uncomfortable, waving his hand to dismiss her concerns.

“I actually…had this made awhile ago, when I was still out here on my own. I stopped through Takumi early on, and while I was looking for a handful of new shuriken, I passed by a woman sitting by the side of the market carving little figurines out of scrap metal for the kids. I’m not sure why I stopped, but I did. And,” he tries not to fidget, “I asked her to make this.”

Her hair, longer than ever now, falls over her face in a curtain as she brings the pendant closer to her face to inspect it more closely. He knows she can probably see the details of the carving on it now - a round fan divided by a graceful arc on one side, unmistakable delicate petals arranged neatly around the center hole on the other.

Sasuke knows he is rambling now, and it is all so very unlike him, but there is no mistaking the nervous bubbling in his stomach. “I was looking for new shuriken because years ago, Itachi had given me a set he bought me when he stopped through Takumi on his first ANBU mission. Even after he…was gone, I kept using them, training with them.” He chuckles mirthlessly to himself. “I thought for a while I would try to kill him with them. But I’ve had them ever since, and they finally got to the point where the edges were so thin I couldn’t sharpen them anymore. I just,” he pauses and glances at his hands, “couldn’t…throw them away.”

Sasuke clears his throat and wills himself to keep going, because he owes Sakura at least that much. “I saw that woman in Takumi carving scraps and thought that maybe this way I wouldn’t have to.”

Sakura’s face is bent so low over the box that he can no longer see her expression, and she is so still that for a moment, Sasuke is legitimately concerned for her. Anxiety gnaws at him, and he wonders if perhaps this was a mistake; perhaps this is too much, saddling her with the weight of a dead man who, in so many ways, was Sasuke’s whole world. There is no doubting the feelings Sakura has for him after all this time, but if this brings her some kind of distress or upset, Sasuke has no idea where to even begin redeeming himself. What else, really, is he at all? If not just a man stuck on an endless loop of trying to redeem himself to the people, to this woman, whom he lo-

Sakura cuts into the spiral threatening to envelop him. “Sasuke-kun, I…”

He is bracing himself for some form of rejection, when suddenly she lifts her head. Her face is glowing, a euphoric smile spread across it, and he thinks he catches a glimmer of a tear at the corner of one eye. “Thank you,” she beams, lifting the pendant out of the box. She slips the red cord over her head, gently lifting the hair off her neck to let the cord fall around her neckline. Pulling on the sliding knots to pull the circle in tighter, she winches the pendant upwards until the barest hint of it peeks out of her raised collar.

She reaches across the table, threading their fingers together. For a girl who once flushed on command each time he spoke to her, she blushes surprisingly little now - as Sasuke notes the tint in her cheeks, he realizes he cannot remember the last time he has seen her blush. A smile still graces her lips, although Sasuke thinks she probably is not aware of it.

Suddenly shaking her head, Sakura giggles with a noise so genuinely unburdened and free that Sasuke nearly flinches in response. Her fingertips drum across the back of his hand giddily. “I just - I used to dream of…” she trails off and looks away, uncharacteristically shy again. When she manages to muster up the courage to meet his eyes again, he raises an inquisitive brow, tilting his chin in question, and he sees her relent, sees her decide to admit to whatever it is she finds so embarrassing.

“When we were still Academy students, I daydreamed constantly about wearing this crest one day.” Sasuke’s heart does some maneuver in his chest that he is about 90% sure is physically impossible. She continues, blushing still, “But as the years went on, I almost entirely forgot about that little fantasy.” Her face darkens slightly, as she says, “Or perhaps I locked it away somewhere where the memory of it didn’t hurt so much. Either way, it was so long ago, and it just popped into my head now. I wonder what Academy Sakura would make of this?” Sakura lifts the pendant with one hand and smiles again, eyes flashing with humor and life.

By way of response, Sasuke lifts their interlocked hands, pressing a gentle kiss to the apex of one knuckle. He can feel the warmth radiating off of her.

He is not sure what this is, this new and fragile thing that blooms between them. He knows now, though, that there is no redemption in the world he needs other the safety of Konoha and the soft gaze of the woman across from him - and all that it contains.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a sweet moment wherein Sasuke must grapple with his (rightful and tbh correct) feelings of inadequacy and both Sasuke and Sakura get to see how far they have come in all these years. White Day is a Japanese holiday following one month after Valentine's Day, when men who receive gives from women generally must return the gesture with a gift of their own. It's a rather recent historical development, but heck, I'll shove it into this universe if I want to.
> 
> This is also an indication of just how deeply Sasuke does care for Sakura - he is so thoughtful that he comes up with a unique and lovely gift to truly show her the truth of his feelings. The poor bb is trying to get better with words, but he's still mostly a man of action, and that's probably never going to change.
> 
> My headcanon, by the way, is that Sakura deems this pendant too special to be worn once she gets back to Konoha - especially after she nearly loses it a few times while they are traveling. The cord has to be rewoven and replaced multiple times, so finally, she stitches together a little scrap of silk and stuffs it to be a pillow, and the pendant rests on the nightstand on her side of the bed...thus explaining why we never see it in Boruto. ~~Take that!! This author has thought about continuity!!!!~~
> 
> Smut is imminent...but I hope you enjoyed this bit of fluff before the, er, storm! As always, please let me know what you thought!
> 
> Love,  
> pudge


End file.
